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The alchemy of memory

John Gray explores the role of memory in giving meaning to our lives. He reflects on how we struggle to preserve our past but at the same time sometimes long to leave it behind.

John Gray explores the role of memory in giving meaning to our lives. Through the writings of J.G. Ballard, he reflects on how we struggle to preserve our past but at the same time sometimes long to leave it behind.

Gray praises the power of Ballard's imagination - and his enchanting fables - to make good all this.

His conclusion is upbeat. "Through the alchemy of memory the leaden buildings in which [Ballard] wandered as a boy became the golden vistas of his fiction, and the traumas of his childhood were transmuted into images of fulfilment".

Producer:
Adele Armstrong.

Available now

10 minutes

Last on

Sun 2 Sep 2012 08:50

Broadcasts

  • Fri 31 Aug 2012 20:50
  • Sun 2 Sep 2012 08:50

Podcast